Henry And Cato Novel

Henry and Cato is the story of two prodigal sons. Henry returns from a self-imposed exile in America to an unforeseen inheritance of wealth and land in England. He is also returning to his mother. His friend Cato is struggling with two ambiguous intermingled passions, one for a God who may or may not exist, the other for a petty criminal who may or may not be capable of salvation. Cato's father and his sister Colette wait anxiously to welcome Cato back to sanity after his dubious escapades. Henry meanwhile confronts his mother, the unappeased furies of childish resentment, and various possibilities of revenge. Henry's cool mother watches, Cato's impetuous sister intervenes. Can love here become a saving force, or is it condemned to be possessive and demonic? Blackmail and violence take a hand, and both Henry and Cato return home at last.

Reunited childhood friends confront their longings and failures in this “engaging” novel by a Man Booker Prize–winning author (The New York Times). As children growing up in the English countryside, Henry Marshalson and Cato Forbes were inseparable. But, as time went on, their lives took different paths. For Henry, whose older brother would inherit his father’s estate, the United States called, with a professorship to teach art history, while Cato devoted himself to the Catholic priesthood and a mission in London. But when Henry’s brother dies, leaving him sole heir to his family’s vast estate, Henry and Cato find themselves connecting once more and reexamining the paths their lives have taken. As Henry struggles to come to terms with his personal passions and family obligations, and Cato fights against his religious doubts and darker urges, both men find themselves entwined in a deadly intrigue that could ruin not only their lives but also the lives of those they hold dear. A dizzying display of complex plotting, Henry and Cato was praised as “Murdoch’s finest novel” by Joyce Carol Oates, a spectacular combination of thrilling action and moral philosophizing that will leave readers spellbound.

Henry og Cato er barndomsvenner, men har ikke set hinanden i flere år. Skæbnen har ført dem i hver deres retning. Cato er katolsk præst tilknyttet et sogn i et området nær London. Han er i en troskrise, da han har forelsket sig i en småkriminel men yderst smuk 17-årig dreng. Henri er derimod rejst fra fødelandet til USA for at undervise på et mindre universitet. Her bor han i flere år indtil han får nyheden om, at hans storebror er død. Henri er derfor nødt til at rejse hjem for at gøre krav på den imponerende arv, der tæller både gods og formue. Lige så stille flettes de to barndomsvenners skæbne sammen igen. En sammenfletning, der dog er i fare for at gå i hårknude ... Iris Murdoch (1919-1999) var en irsk forfatter og filosof, der særligt beskæftigede sig med dualistiske spørgsmål om godhed og ondskab. Iris Murdochs filosofiske ideer smittede af på hendes skønlitterære forfatterskab, der også tager netop samme spørgsmål om menneskets gode og dårlige sider, om moral, etik, kærlighed og ondskab.

"Cato, history's most famous foe of authoritarian power, was the pivotal political man of Rome; an inspiration to our Founding Fathers; and a cautionary figure for our times. He loved Roman republicanism, but saw himself as too principled for the mere politics that might have saved it. His life and lessons are urgently relevant in the harshly divided America—and world—of today. With erudition and verve, Rob Goodman and Jimmy Soni turn their life of Cato into the most modern of biographies, a blend of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and Game Change."—Howard Fineman, Editorial Director of The Huffington Post Media Group, NBC and MSNBC News Analyst, and New York Times bestselling author of The Thirteen American Arguments "A truly outstanding piece of work. What most impresses me is the book's ability to reach through the confusing dynastic politics of the late Roman Republic to present social realities in a way intelligible to the modern reader. Rome's Last Citizen entertainingly restores to life the stoic Roman who inspired George Washington, Patrick Henry and Nathan Hale. This is more than a biography: it is a study of how a reputation lasted through the centuries from the end of one republic to the start of another."—David Frum, DailyBeast columnist, former White House speech writer, and New York Times bestselling author of The Right Man Marcus Porcius Cato: aristocrat who walked barefoot and slept on the ground with his troops, political heavyweight who cultivated the image of a Stoic philosopher, a hardnosed defender of tradition who presented himself as a man out of the sacred Roman past—and the last man standing when Rome's Republic fell to tyranny. His blood feud with Caesar began in the chamber of the Senate, played out on the battlefields of a world war, and ended when he took his own life rather than live under a dictator. Centuries of thinkers, writers, and artists have drawn inspiration from Cato's Stoic courage. Saint Augustine and the early Christians were moved and challenged by his example. Dante, in his Divine Comedy, chose Cato to preside over the souls who arrive in Purgatory. George Washington so revered him that he staged a play on Cato's life to revive the spirit of his troops at Valley Forge. Now, in Rome's Last Citizen, Rob Goodman and Jimmy Soni deliver the first modern biography of this stirring figure. Cato's life is a gripping tale that resonates deeply with our own turbulent times. He grappled with terrorists, a debt crisis, endemic political corruption, and a huge gulf between the elites and those they governed. In many ways, Cato was the ultimate man of principle—he even chose suicide rather than be used by Caesar as a political pawn. But Cato was also a political failure: his stubbornness sealed his and Rome's defeat, and his lonely end casts a shadow on the recurring hope that a singular leader can transcend the dirty business of politics. Rome's Last Citizen is a timeless story of an uncompromising man in a time of crisis and his lifelong battle to save the Republic.

Three sharply observed novels from the “prodigiously inventive” Man Booker Prize–winning author of The Sea, The Sea (The New York Times). “One of the most significant novelists of her generation” (The Guardian) and a “consummate storyteller” (The Independent), British author Iris Murdoch grappled with questions of morality as well as the nature of love in novels that are every bit as entertaining as they are thought provoking. Over the span of her career, she was the recipient of the Man Booker Prize, the Whitbread Literary Award, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Henry and Cato: Henry Marshalson and Cato Forbes were inseparable childhood friends. But their lives took different paths. Henry went to the United States to teach art history. Cato became a priest. When Henry’s brother dies, leaving him sole heir to his family’s vast estate, he returns to England, and the two friends reconnect. As Henry struggles to come to terms with his personal passions and family obligations, Cato fights against his religious doubts and darker urges. Soon, both men find themselves entwined in a deadly intrigue that could ruin not only their lives but also the lives of those they hold dear. “Murdoch’s finest novel.” —Joyce Carol Oates The Italian Girl: After a long absence, Edmund Narraway has returned to his childhood home to attend his mother’s funeral. The visit rekindles feelings of affection and nostalgia, but also triggers a resurgence of the tensions that caused him to leave in the first place. As Edmund once again becomes entangled in his family’s web of corrosive secrets, his homecoming tips a precariously balanced dynamic into sudden chaos. “[An] inbred story of modern life . . . a ritual of innocence and corruption . . . accomplished with many dark fancies, sudden surprises and arcane implications.” —Kirkus Reviews The Philosopher’s Pupil: The quiet English town of Ennistone is shaken up when George McCaffrey’s car plunges into the cold waters of a canal, carrying with it his wife—and when the village’s most celebrated son, famed philosopher John Robert Rozanov, returns, upending the lives of everyone with whom he comes in contact, in this New York Times Notable Book. “The most daring and original of all her novels.” —A. N. Wilson

Dooley provides background information for each of the interviews, along with a thorough index.